It may be mid-September, but the venues alone make this weekend sound like its in the heart of the racing calendar — Bristol, Knoxville and Indianapolis.
Here’s a deeper look at this weekend’s big events:
Bristol At Night
It’s one of the most magical weekends of the NASCAR season — Bristol at night. Three nights of action on the legendary .533-mile concrete Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway will be highlighted by Saturday’s traditional NASCAR Night Race featuring the Cup Series in what will be the third round of the playoffs and the final cut-off race for the Round of 12.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series takes center stage on Friday night, while action kicks off Thursday with the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series both in action.
Countdown Begins
The Countdown for the Championship for the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series begins its six-race run at Pennsylvania’s Maple Grove Raceway. Justin Ashley (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Dallas Glenn lead the standings entering the Countdown.
Knoxville Late Models
The powerful dirt late models make their annual visit to the Sprint Car Capital of the World this weekend with the 19th running of the Knoxville Late Model Nationals sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
Two nights of preliminary action at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway pay the winners $7,000, while Saturday’s 75-lap main event on the half-mile, black-dirt track pays $75,000 to win. Jonathan Davenport won last year’s event.
Hockett-McMillin Memorial
The 13th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial will run over three nights at the state-of-the-art Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.
Drivers from 17 states are entered as the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series shares the bill with the POWRi WAR non-winged sprint cars.
Indianapolis Road Racing
The IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship will return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since 2014.
The TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks will feature Sunday’s two hour and 40-minute WeatherTech Championship race with all five classes running on the 2.439-mile road course. The Michelin Pilot Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Porsche Carrera Cup classes will also be in action over the three-day event.
Traveling Sprints
Three of the country’s top sprint car tours will have two race weekends with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series visiting Keller Auto Speedway and Placerville Speedway in California and the USAC National Sprint Car Championship racing twice in its home state of Indiana with events at Circle City Raceway and Tri-State Speedway. The All Star Circuit of Champions will hold a two-day event at Ohio’s Fremont Speedway.
Fonda 200
The historic Fonda 200 modified race will run Thursday through Saturday at New York’s Fonda Speedway. Run under the direction of the Short Track Super Series, the 200-lap event will pay $53,000 to the winner.